No practice and still perfect: Different routes for promoting offline gains in perceptual learning

Visual perceptual learning is thought to require extensive training, but a few reminder trials can sometimes replace daily practice. In a 5-day texture discrimination learning experiment, we showed that both accounts need amendment. Following an initial training session, we found that further skill acquisition can be accomplished either with repeated daily administration of a few reminder trials or by offline learning without any further training, depending on attentional context and task demands. In dual-task conditions involving the simultaneous discrimination of a peripheral texture target and a central fixation target, reminders were as effective as daily training, whereas no learning occurred without reminders. In contrast, in a single-task condition without a fixation task, learning emerged without reminders or training. Hence, attentional context and task demands may determine the ability of reminders or protracted consolidation to yield offline learning gains that are comparable to those delivered by daily training.